Web Hosting For Singapore Company

It is important for Singapore company to work with one company for domain name registration and another company for web hosting. It is also important for Singapore company to choose a web hosting company with data centre in Asia (Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan or even Australia).

Hosting company – Local or Foreign

Singapore company can either choose a Singapore-based hosting company or a foreign hosting company with data centres in Asia. Generally, foreign hosting companies offer more cost-effective hosting packages and better support. A starter package from foreign hosting company usually costs less than SGD$10 per month, with 24×7 support. This level of price and support is not easily available from Singapore-based hosting companies.

Before placing an order, it is important to check the recurring cost for future contract renewal. Most foreign hosting companies discount heavily on signing up, with maximum 24-month contract. Upon the end of the initial contract, the renewal cost can be as much as double.

WordPress Content Management System

Equally important is the “content management system” (CMS) for website building. Though there are many website creation tools available out there, none is as easy as the reputable WordPress. WordPress is used by more than 60% of CMS websites in the world.

WordPress is an elegant and well-architectured open-source CMS, free for use by everyone. It is extremely user-friendly. To start with, users can decide on a website layout from thousands of free templates, known as themes. Most themes are mobile & tablet friendly, looking great on both desktop computers and mobile devices. Functionalities can then be added by choosing from thousands of free plugins and widgets. There is a huge support community working on free themes, plugins and widgets. There is another equally huge marketplace for user to purchase anything that comes with fanciful layout and customized functionalities.

WordPress Hosting

Due to the large number of users using WordPress, all hosting companies offer easy installation of WordPress with Autoupdate, daily backup and server-level security protection. Some web hosting companies even offer hosting packages optimized for WordPress, with server hardware and software tuned to provide best performance and highest security.

One item a Singapore company should pay special attention to is the technical support. Before deciding on the hosting company, search the internet and read reviews about their hosting support. Some hosting companies receive excellent reviews from Asian users on their ability to troubleshoot on WordPress plugins and widgets. They are able to help the user identify quickly if a specific plugin or widget is having a negative impact.

Hosting Plans For Beginner

There are generally four types of hosting plans: shared server, virtual private server (VPS), dedicated server and cloud hosting. The plans offer different storage sizes to suit different website requirement. Pricing differs according to the number of domain and bandwidth limitation. A single-domain shared-server hosting package costing below SGD$10 is usually good enough for a Singapore SME (Small and Medium Enterprise).

One option that is not always clear to beginners is whether there is need to subscribe to a “dedicate IP Address”. An IP Address is an internet number assigned to your website. Starter package usually comes with “shared IP Address”. Some starter package offer “dedicated IP Address” as an option with the additional cost of about SGD$5 per month. Dedicated IP address really serves no purpose for SME, even if a company is planning to expand into bigger website in future.

Resources For Beginner

Resources are readily available for a beginner to learn and start a website successfully. YouTube or WordPress TV are 2 important places to learn about domain registration, web hosting and WordPress. There are also subsidized courses offered by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA).

For Singapore company looking for a quick start, NameCheap is a good consideration for domain registration. For Hosting, look for a company with Asia hosting with consistent pricing for initial contract and subsequent renewal.